Learning to Open Up
by BlankPage-CleanSlate
Summary: Annabeth Chase is many things, but an open book is not one of them. She tends to hide what she's thinking. A look at Annabeth discovering it's ok to talk to others about her problems.
1. Burdened

**A/N: Hello everyone! I know it's been a while, but I was reading my other story and it was going nowhere, so I just decided to delete it. I'm sorry if anyone wanted me to continue it, but I really just wasn't feeling it. So here's my first chapter of this story, I hope you enjoy it!**

Scribbling away furiously on a piece of paper, Annabeth felt beyond frustrated. There she was, supposedly the best strategist in the whole camp, and she couldn't think of anything. Even with Daedalus' laptop whirring away beside her, showing her the most successful battle strategies in all of history to draw inspiration from, Annabeth had made no progress. Every passing day was a day closer to Kronos's army invading either Mount Olympus or Camp Half-Blood, and Annabeth had wasted so much time already. She needed to think of every possible way that Kronos could attack at every possible location, while still planning strikes against his legions too. Annabeth had to be prepared for everything. She couldn't let the camp down, especially not after-

Well, especially not after the disaster that was Annabeth's quest last summer. It was still painful to remember. The whole quest was burned painfully into Annabeth's conscience. She'd made so many mistakes, and so many demigods had lost their life because of those mistakes. If only she'd managed to find Daedalus sooner and convince him not to give Luke Ariadne's string, if only she'd stopped Kronos's army before it reached Camp, if only she hadn't wasted two weeks at camp while Percy was missing, if only Annabeth hadn't screwed up all the times she did, everything could be so different. Annabeth had brought about the death of numerous demigods including the most genius demigod ever. Maybe if Daedalus was still here he'd know what to do, because Annabeth was hopelessly lost.

Then there was the matter of Luke. Even if anyone could argue that the battle and all the following deaths weren't completely Annabeth's fault, the blame for Luke's predicament fell solely on her. If only she'd agreed to run away with him, or convinced him to turn his back on Kronos, or… or… or Annabeth didn't even know what she could have done, but she should have done something, gods dammit. Then maybe Kronos wouldn't be ready to wage war yet, and the whole nightmare that was last summer and the year leading up to now could have been avoided entirely. Seeing Luke's body in that coffin, the way his eyes flashed gold, hearing that horrible voice, it haunted Annabeth every day. _Oh, Luke….._ Annabeth drew in a shaky breath. She couldn't afford to go down this line of thought. Not now.

Annabeth slammed her laptop closed in exasperation. Several Athena campers looked up, startled, from their various activities around cabin 6. Annabeth apologized to them, and marched right out of the building. They didn't understand just how much pressure was being put on her. Sure, they had to plan some strategies too, but they weren't pressured to come up with the same amount of strategies Annabeth was, and Annabeth was expected to look over and approve all their plans anyways. She couldn't tell them how she felt either. They came to her with problems, it didn't work the other way around. Besides, Annabeth's bravery and unfazed attitude gave the other campers, especially the younger ones, hope and confidence, and who was she to take that away?

As she walked, Annabeth studied the camp. It had been her home for 9 years, and never had she seen it so grim. They volleyball and basketball courts where abandoned, and the arts and crafts building hadn't been used in months. No one had the time or care to look after the strawberry fields, and the poor fruits were suffering because of it. There was a pleasantly warm late July breeze, and the sun was shining, but the campers who would enjoy it weren't there. Instead of joking around by the cabins or relaxing by the beach, the campers spent most of their time in either the arena, archery range or forge, preparing for the battles ahead. Annabeth found it mildly depressing. Mind you though, Annabeth found this whole situation with the war depressing.

Eventually Annabeth found that she had wandered over to Thalia's Pine Tree. The massive tree stood tall and proud, but was isolated from any other trees, kind of how Annabeth felt. She had to act confident for the camp, but none of them knew how much she was struggling right now. It was lonely, but Annabeth was going to keep it that way. Thalia's Pine Tree was a source of comfort for her though. Annabeth used to come here all the time when she was upset, when she was younger. Thalia had always helped Annabeth with her problems, so young Annabeth would talk to the tree about her problems. She'd known it was silly, but it made Annabeth feel closer to Thalia, and it had helped. Thalia's spirit wasn't in the tree anymore, but it was still a place of comfort for Annabeth. It was isolated enough from the rest of camp that no one could see or hear her if she cried, and that's exactly what Annabeth did. She sank down against the trunk of the pine tree and started sobbing.

Everything in Annabeth's life was going wrong. There was possibly going to be a war that would end all of western civilization in less than a month. The camp needed her to help them out, and she was failing them. She'd waited years for the opportunity to lead a quest, and when she finally got one she botched it up so badly people _died._ Tears were splattering all over Annabeth's t-shirt, but she didn't care. Luke was pretty much gone forever, Annabeth's stupid prophecy had said she would _"lose a love to worse than death_ " and as far as losing people went, Annabeth had lost Luke pretty spectacularly.

And then there was Percy. The stupid moron had no idea just how bad things were going over here. Sure they'd kept him informed of the most important events and sent him on a few missions, but for the most part Percy had spent his summer with his mom, not having to worry about the war. Annabeth wished he was here; the camp could use some of his Seaweed Brain goofiness about now, and if she was being honest, so could she. She knew Chiron was trying to let Percy enjoy the most of his summer considering… considering the prophecy. When Annabeth had first read the prophecy when she was 10 it had scared her a little maybe, but mostly it had intrigued her. The hero of the prophecy was just some unknown demigod. Besides, the prophecy probably wouldn't involve her anyways, so what was there to worry about? When she met Percy it changed her perspective of the prophecy. It wasn't some faceless hero who was going to get their soul reaped anymore, it was her friend. At first Annabeth was confident they could find a way to avoid the prophecy, but the older she got the more she doubted that. Annabeth started having nightmares about Percy dying because of the prophecy. They weren't special demigod dreams, she could tell, but they frightened her none the less. Those dreams were getting worse and more frequent the closer they got to August 18th, to the point where Annabeth was losing hours of sleep over them every night. And the Seaweed Brain was oblivious to it all, enjoying his summer break, while Annabeth was at camp agonizing over the fact that she may lose him. Annabeth had lost so many important people to her over her short lifespan; she couldn't afford to lose Percy too.

Annabeth looked down at her tear stained clothes. Gods, she was a mess. She stopped crying long enough to hear her stomach growling, Annabeth had been by the pine tree longer than she had realized. It was almost dinner. Annabeth dried her tears and headed down to the mess hall. When she joined the Athena cabin at their table her second in command, Malcolm, looked at her curiously.

"You've been gone all afternoon Annabeth. Where'd you go?"

"I needed some time alone to think of a few more strategies," Annabeth lied smoothly, getting back into her confident attitude easily. She'd had years of practice.

Malcolm didn't look convinced. "Are you sure ok? This whole war thing's putting a lot of stress on everyone." His gray eyes showed concern. Annabeth couldn't let that stay there, or the rest of the camp would start to worry too and undo a lot of Annabeth's hard work.

Annabeth raised her chin and locked her steely gray eyes on Malcolm's. "I'm fine," she said. And they bought it.

* * *

Annabeth Chase was 15 years old. She was a leader at camp, a role model, someone people looks to for answers. The perfect daughter of Athena, she was strong, brave, intelligent, and fearless (with the exception of spiders). At least that's what the camp thought. Annabeth knew that last sentence was not true, but she had to keep the camp believing that it was. If one of the most respected and looked up to demigods couldn't stay strong for the camp, how would they stay strong and follow her into battle? How could they trust her to lead them and make the best decisions, choose the best strategies? How could _she_ trust herself to lead them and make the best decisions, choose the best strategies if she couldn't even stay calm and get a handle on her emotions?

No, showing weakness and fear was _not an option._ Annabeth had to always look and act courageous in public, if not for her own sake, then for the sake of the camp and consequently the entire world. It was big burden, and not one she wanted, but Annabeth had no choice. No one could know that Annabeth Chase was not always the strong, brave, intelligent, and fearless demigod she was portrayed to be.

 **A/N: There we are, first chapter is finished. I hope you liked it. I have two more chapters planned, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to finishing them. However, if you're really wanting to see them, feel free to leave a review! They always help to motivate me to write more.**

 **See you later,**

 **BlankPage-CleanSlate :)**


	2. Progress

**A/N: Hey everyone! It's been a few months since I posted the first chapter, I know. I'm kinda sorry for that, but at the same time I was busy, and I'd rather make you guys wait a bit longer than post a bad chapter, so... not super sorry. Anyways enjoy!**

Sitting by herself at the Athena table in the dining pavilion Annabeth let out a sigh and put her head on the table. It was quiet there for once, but only because the other campers were at the campfire. Annabeth knew she'd have to join them eventually, but she wasn't really in the mood for festivities. Today had been long and frustrating for Annabeth. They were well into March now but there was still so much work to be done on the Argo II and so little progress at the moment. Annabeth was still trying to find Percy, contacting anyone who might now anything about his whereabouts, but so far she'd come up with nothing. She'd resigned herself to the fact that she may just have to wait for Leo to finish the ship whenever that may be. In the mean time Annabeth had tasked herself with researching the Romans, giants, and Gaea, but there was a frustratingly low number of books about them in camp. They weren't really popular subjects here. Annabeth was helping out with anything and everything she could to speed up the progress, but she just wasn't needed anywhere. That was the worst part. Percy had been gone for months and Annabeth hadn't been able to do anything about it.

Annabeth stood up abruptly suddenly feeling angry. Angry at the gods for taking Percy away after everything they'd done for them. Angry at the fates for being so cruel. Angry at Percy, as unreasonable as that was, for being missing and for causing her to feel this constant state of worry, misery, and pain. Angry at herself most of all for being incapable of doing anything but wait. Angry at herself for being absolutely useless. A growl forming in her throat Annabeth flipped over the table in frustration.

She stood there, breathing heavily as she started at the table. It had landed on it's side and knocked the bench over as well. The remains of Annabeth's dinner were strewn all over the ground. Seeing the mess she'd caused made Annabeth pause.

Anger spent, she slid onto the ground and hugged her knees feeling completely miserable. She didn't understand why she was acting this way. She'd been without Percy in her life before, and been just fine. She could do without him for a little while longer couldn't she? She'd faced down monsters, rogue demigods, the occasional bitter god, and the king of the Titans himself, but she couldn't deal with a single boy being gone for a few months. She was pathetic. Annabeth should be better than this and she knows it. She was letting her entire life fall apart. She was devoting all her time to looking for one person, but having exactly zero success. In the meantime her grades in school were slipping, she wasn't sleeping well, she could hardly remember to eat. And dear gods did she miss Percy. Seaweed brained as he may be, he'd know how to cheer her up right now. He'd hug her and hold her tight, kissing the top of her head and telling her that everything will be okay. He'd keep making ridiculously stupid comments, but they'd just be so endearing and _Percy_ that eventually she'd crack a smile. Frowning Annabeth reprimanded herself. She shouldn't need anyone to make her feel better. She was Annabeth Chase, a strong daughter of Athena and was capable of more than this. That didn't make her miss Percy any less desperately though. Warm tears were tracing their way down her face now, and Annabeth wiped them off determinedly. Wallowing in self pity and crying wasn't going to solve anything.

Getting up and fixing the table Annabeth was grateful no one had been there to her lose control and flip the table like that. She threw the rest of her dinner in the fire, but didn't bother to offer it to any of the gods. She didn't have anything to thank them for right now anyways. Although she'd told her siblings that she would join them at the campfire, Annabeth started walking to her cabin. She honestly just didn't feel up to it. I'll make it up to them tomorrow, she told herself. As if she'd magically be in a better head space in a few hours.

"Annabeth!"

Startled out of her thoughts, Annabeth turned around to see who had called her name. It was Piper. The daughter of Aphrodite was running was running towards her.

"Annabeth, hey." Piper paused to catch her breath. She was dressed more appropriately for the cold March weather in her jacket, than Annabeth who was shivering in her camp hoodie. "Where are you going?"

"The Athena cabin."

"What about the camp fire? C'mon Annabeth, it'll be fun!" For a second Annabeth felt herself agreeing with Piper. It would be fun to go to the campfire. _Snap out of it Annabeth._ Piper was using her charmspeak and Annabeth wasn't having any of it.

"I'm not in the mood Piper." Annabeth glared at her. "And don't try to charmspeak me." Annabeth turned on her heel and stalked off towards her cabin. Piper's surprised look had made Annabeth feel a little guilty. She knew she was being harsh with her, and Piper had done nothing wrong. Annabeth just needed sometime alone.

* * *

Piper had other plans. Five minutes after getting into her cabin Annabeth found the daughter of Aphrodite knocking on her door. Annabeth cautiously opened it. Piper was holding out something to her. A s'more?

Piper followed Annabeth's gaze to what she was holding in her hands. "It's a s'more, from the camp fire," she explained. "You weren't coming so I got one for you."

Annabeth took the s'more from Piper and took a bite. "Thanks Piper." Annabeth sighed. She'd been acting poorly towards Piper, yet Piper was still being nice to her. "Look, Piper, I…" Annabeth's feeble apology trailed off when Piper started giggling. "What?"

"You've, uh, you have a little bit of s'more on your face."

Annabeth laughed and wiped at her face. "Did I get it?"

A nod from Piper told Annabeth that she had. Whatever slight tension that had been between them was gone now, but Annabeth still felt bad for how she'd treated Piper. During the three months Piper had been at camp for she's become one of Annabeth's best friends. Piper just had this sense of when Annabeth was feeling down, and would always try to cheer her up. Piper knew vaguely that part of the reason Annabeth was so miserable was Percy, but she didn't know just how badly everything was going for Annabeth right now.

Clearing her throat Piper looked Annabeth dead in the eye. "I understand if you don't want to go to the camp fire, but we are NOT spending the whole night in this cabin."

"We?" Annabeth was baffled. She looked at the younger demigod curiously. Piper didn't need to stay here, in fact she hadn't even needed to come to the Athena cabin in the first place.

Leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed against her chest, Piper grinned at Annabeth. "Yup! We are officially having a girl's night!"

"A girl's night." Annabeth repeated Piper incredulously. The determined expression on Piper's face told her Piper wasn't taking no for an answer. With a resigned sigh Annabeth walked towards the door. "Let's go then."

* * *

Piper led Annabeth to the strawberry fields and motioned for her to sit. Following Piper's lead, Annabeth sat down. "Piper… what are we doing here?"

The smile on Piper's face melted into something a little more serious. "Annabeth, we need to talk."

"About what?"

Faltering slightly at the emotionless tone of Annabeth's voice Piper pressed on. "About _you._ "

"Me."

Pausing for a moment as if to gather her confidence, Piper nodded. "Yes you. Annabeth, I know I haven't been around camp for that long, but I consider you to be a good friend of mine. And I'm worried about you. You've missed a lot of meals, and it doesn't look like you've been sleeping lately. I know you're worried about Percy, but you have to stop every now and then to take care of yourself too Annabeth. Running yourself to the ground isn't going to help anyone, least of all Percy."

Silence followed Piper's little lecture. Piper kept glancing at Annabeth nervously, probably afraid she'd overstepped her boundaries. Annabeth just stared at the ground in front of her. She could argue with Piper's statements, but she didn't want to. Nothing Piper had said was false, and Annabeth was tired of lying to everyone.

"You're right."

"I-I am?" asked a taken aback Piper.

Sighing Annabeth faced Piper. "Yeah, you are. I know I've not been acting completely like myself lately, and I've been a bit of a crappy friend. I'm sorry. I just…" She trailed off.

"You miss Percy. And everyone understands, but Annabeth you're shutting yourself off from people."

"I'm not trying to, I just get distracted. I have to try and find Percy, Piper. It's really important, not just for me, but for the quest and the entire camp."

"The camp doesn't need you to solve every problem Annabeth, we'll figure it out in time. Right now they just need you to act like a friend. That's equally as reassuring as a leader."

Sighing, Annabeth nodded at Piper and smiled. Piper didn't get it. She hadn't been at camp during the titan war. She didn't know just how wrong that statement was. The camp did need Annabeth to solve problems, to be a leader, not a friend. Annabeth would know. It was her who shouldered that responsibility every day, not Piper. But Piper was trying and Annabeth appreciated it.

Relief crossed over Piper's face. She seemed happy that Annabeth appeared to be listening to her. "I know you're going through a bit of a rough patch, but I'm here for you, you know that right? You can talk to me whenever."

"I might just take you up on that Mclean." It was the truth, Annabeth would talk to Piper later, talking had helped, but that didn't mean Piper wouldn't get the full story. Annabeth wasn't ready to talk to anyone about everything she was feeling quite yet.

Getting up and brushing the dirt off her pants, Annabeth turned to face Piper. "Thanks for this Piper, I needed it."

Piper looked alarmed. "You can't leave yet! Girl's night is just beginning!"

Raising an eyebrow Annabeth faced Piper. "And what would this girl's night entail?"

"Well we've already made s'mores, and had a meaningful chat, so I'd say what's left is watching a chick flick, painting each other's nails and a pillow fight!" Piper listed each activity off on her fingers. "We can get the nail polish from my cabin, they've got enough that they won't notice if a bit goes missing. We have our own pillows in our cabin's, I just don't know where to watch the movie. There's no TVs in camp."

Annabeth thought for a minute. "There's a small movie theatre in the Oracle's cave. Apollo made us install one for Rachel."

Seriously?"

"Oh yes. Apollo was quite serious about it."

"Well then what are we waiting for?"

* * *

Girls night ended up being a lot of fun. The pillow fight was the highlight of the night. Piper put up a good fight, but she couldn't quite handle the daughter of Athena's pillow fight strategies, or her amazing pillow fort. ("I can't knock this stupid fort over! How the heck did you build this?" "I'm an architect, remember? This is my specialty!") They parted for the night with promises of another girl's night soon. It ended up being their monthly thing. Girl's night didn't help to solve any of Annabeth's problem's, and she still worried about everything far too often to be good for her health, but it provided Annabeth a distraction and a chance to just forget about everything and enjoy herself, if only for a single night each month.

"It appears I am the pillow fight champion for the third month in a row!"

"Shut up Chase, I'll get you next time."

"You said that last time, Mclean."

Piper would still talk to Annabeth about how she was holding up during girl's night, and Annabeth would try to answer her as much as she could, but despite her growing friendship with the younger demigod, Annabeth still couldn't bring herself to tell Piper everything. The rest of the camp didn't know that Annabeth wasn't as strong as she seemed, so if one of her friends knew a bit about it who cared? Annabeth apparently. Keeping everything to herself was a habit, but she was trying to talk to Piper a little bit, so it was a good start.

* * *

Annabeth Chase was 16 years old. With Percy gone she was a leader at camp more now than ever. Her success in the titan war has caused the other campers to see her as an even bigger role model, and they expected her to have the answers for _everything_. Like where Percy is, and how they're going to deal with the threat of the Giants. And Annabeth has no clue. Annabeth had thought that the burden of the camp's expectations for her were bad a year ago, but compared to now it was nothing. Being one of the demigods to help bring defeat Kronos had elevated the camps expectations of Annabeth to a standard that was impossible to reach. She had to be composed for them all the time. They expected a strong, put together daughter of Athena who had everything under control, could strategize them out of all their problems, and was a fearless warrior, to lead them. And Annabeth wasn't about to deny them that. Percy disappearing had unsettled the camp, Annabeth having a breakdown wasn't going to help them. An army was only as strong as their leader. As much as she hated to admit it that's what they were. Though they kept the pretense of being a camp through several fun activities, they trained for _battle_. When push came to shove Camp Half-Blood was an Army. And Annabeth was their leader. She had to be strong for them. One wrong move and the entire camp could crumble. One moment of weakness on her part and the camp's enemies would take the opportunity to punish the entire camp for her mistake.

Talking to Piper had helped. She hadn't been there for the titan war, and didn't view Annabeth the same way the majority of the camp did. She respected Annabeth's experiences, but hadn't come to rely on her yet. Annabeth knew she could talk to Piper when she needed to, and she took that opportunity sometimes, but she could never bring herself to open up to her completely. Some of Annabeth's worries, and fears had been buried for so long that Annabeth didn't even know how to talk about them anymore. Nor would she be comfortable talking about them even if she could. Piper wouldn't get it anyways. Piper's lack of knowledge of how both Annabeth and the camp react in a time of crisis prevented her from understanding why Annabeth had to act the way she did. Why she had to pretend she was okay even when she wasn't. Why she kept her head held high, and fought back the tears. Why she walked around with a confident attitude even when she was unsure about everything. That was the Annabeth Chase the camp expected to see, wanted to see, _needed to see._ So she gave it to them.

 **A/N: And there we have it! The second chapter is finished. There's still one more chapter to go, so hopefully I'll have that up soon, but don't be surprised if it takes a few months again. Remember, reviews are very motivating for me, so if you really want to find out what happens next, just leave a review!**

 **See you later,**

 **BlankPage-CleanSlate** **:)**


	3. Talking

**A/N: And this is it. The final chapter. I know it's like half a year later, but better late than never, right? I didn't get enough reviews to believe anyone really cared enough anyways. At any rate, enjoy!**

Percy was leaving. Only for a week, but he was still leaving. Annabeth and Percy were attending school in Manhattan together now that the war with the giants was over. Percy had made the school swim team and had a large swim meet he had to go to. The problem with that? It was in freaking Hawaii. Percy hadn't wanted to go. He'd tried asking the coach if he could get out of it, but the answer had been no. This was the biggest school swim meet in all of America. Percy was Goode High School's best swimmer and the reason they had qualified for this meet in the first place. He couldn't not go.

Watching Percy try to back his bags was always funny. His room was so messy, it was a wonder he could find any of the clothes he needed. When Annabeth informed him of this Percy just smirked. "You're one to talk, Wisegirl. You pretend you're all neat and organized, but I've seen your desk when you're working on an architecture project. Papers. Everywhere. It's like they're trying to take over your room!"

Annabeth laughed. "Percy, do you want my help or not?"

It took them over an hour to find all of the stuff Percy needed. Percy ended up packing two bags. A duffle bag for his swim stuff, and a small suitcase for his other clothes. It was easy to tell that Annabeth had packed the suitcase and Percy had packed the duffle bag. The clothes in the suit case were all neatly folded, whereas the clothes in the duffle bag and been stuffed in haphazardly.

"Percy, if you want to make your flight on time, we have to leave now! The traffic is supposed to be bad!" Sally called out from the entrance to the apartment.

"Ok Mom, I'm coming."

"Percy, wait," Annabeth stopped him before he could leave the room. "You're sure you have everything in case of emergencies, right? Ambrosia, drachmas if you need to contact anyone-"

"Annabeth," Percy interrupted, "I'm going to be fine. You can stop worrying about me."

"One of us has to," came the grumbled response. "Considering you love to throw yourself into danger and worry about the consequences later." Annabeth was fully aware Percy was capable of taking care of himself. He was the most powerful demigod she knew. But she still worried. This was the farthest away they would have been from each other since the war, since…. Tartarus. The memories from that place still affected her and Percy greatly. They were getting better, but if something happened to Percy while he was in Hawaii, well, the island was somewhat isolated from where help would be.

Seeming to have noticed the worry in Annabeth's facial features Percy wrapped her in a hug. "It's only going to be a week." He kissed her sweetly. "I'll be back before you know it." He moved to kiss her again but was interrupted by his mother calling out to him.

"Percy, I wasn't kidding! You're going to miss your flight!"

"I have to go." Percy looked at Annabeth. "You're coming to the airport, right?"

"Of course."

* * *

True to Sally's word the traffic was horrible. Annabeth didn't mind however. It meant more time holding Percy's hand in the backseat of Paul's Prius. Percy had acted very nonchalant about the trip in the apartment, but the closer they got to the airport the more nervous he got. Annabeth was reminded of Percy's fear of flying in airplanes.

"What if the plane crashes?" He looked terrified at this thought. It was an expression Percy didn't show often. One that reminded Annabeth that even though they'd seen so many horrible things they were still so young and vulnerable at times. It made her want to hug him and never let go. However, that would be slightly unreasonable considering Percy had to leave, so Annabeth opted for reassuring him instead.

"Percy, Zeus wouldn't let that happen. Not after all you've done for Olympus. The rest of the gods wouldn't stand for it." Percy nodded a bit at this. Glad she was making him feel a bit better, Annabeth continued. "Besides, a good portion of your trip is going to be over the ocean. If anything happens then, you'll be able to use your powers to fix the situation."

Percy swallowed. "You're right. I know, but gods of Olympus this is terrifying. Facing your fears is hard. Is this how you felt going to face Arachne? And that was more dangerous than this. How did you stay so confident and brave?"

 _She didn't._ But Annabeth couldn't tell Percy that. Studying his beautiful sea green eyes Annabeth could tell just how scared he was about this. Believing that Annabeth could be brave facing her fears was motivation for him to face his own, so Annabeth had to play along. "I…" Annabeth took a breath. "You just have to believe in yourself and just go do it."

They'd made it to the airport. If Percy was still nervous he didn't show it anymore. They met up with Percy's swim team at the baggage drop off and made their way over to the security area.

"We can't go any father than this," Sally said to Percy, referring to herself and Annabeth. "Good luck Percy, I'm so proud of you. Look at my son, growing up on me." Percy gave Sally a hug, she had tears in her eyes.

"Mom, like I said to Annabeth, it's only for a week." Percy sounded a little embarrassed because his friends were watching, but he had tears in his eyes too.

Annabeth hugged Percy good bye as well. There were a few things she wanted to say but couldn't with the swim team here. After all, if she started talking about myths as if they were real they'd think she was insane. So instead she simply told him to be safe and gave him a short kiss. She watched as he went through the security line and then disappeared into the crowd of travellers. Then she and Sally made their way back to the apartment.

* * *

Annabeth was back in the one place she never wanted to return to. Tartarus. But this time Percy wasn't with her. Somewhere in the back of her conscience Annabeth knew it was a dream, she's made it out of the pit and Percy would never let her fall down there on her own. However, it didn't make the situation any better. The dreams about Tartarus always messed with Annabeth's emotions and mind. In this dream she was stumbling trough the pit trying to survive, but on her own it was pointless. When Arachne found Annabeth as she had in real life, she quickly killed Annabeth while the demigod was paralyzed in fear. The dream shifted, and Annabeth was being attacked by Kelli and her empousa posse. Again with out Percy there Annabeth was quickly killed. The dream continued on like that, showing Annabeth every time she would have died without Percy or her other friends. Fighting Kronos on Mount Olympus, trying to navigate the labyrinth, Mount Tam…. The dream just kept changing showing Annabeth just how vulnerable and weak she was. Without the help of her friends she was nothing. She'd be a forgotten soul in the fields of Aspohdel by now.

Annabeth woke up gasping. It wasn't the worst nightmare she'd had about Tartarus or her quests, not by a longshot. But with Percy being gone it really hit close to home for her right now. Annabeth was somewhat dependant on Percy at this point. She hated it, she really did. Annabeth wanted to be the independent strong demigod who didn't rely on anyone, the one the rest of the demigods saw. But she wasn't. She relied on Percy to help her when she was incapable, and his absence was proving that.

He'd been gone for three days and they'd only managed to talk to each other once. It was hard for Percy to iris message Annabeth because his team mates were almost always with him. Annabeth absolutely refused to talk to him with mortal technology because she didn't want him to attract monsters when his team mates were always so close by and he was the only demigod they knew of on the island. And the fact that the time zones were so different didn't help.

* * *

 _Brriinnnggg_

Sighing Annabeth looked up from her half-completed math work. That was the bell signaling the end of school for the day. Normally Annabeth would have been able to finish her work before the period ended, but she wasn't sleeping well lately, and it was starting to interfere with her concentration at school. She would have to finish the math as homework. As if she didn't already have enough on her plate with the gods' crazy deadlines for the plans for Mount Olympus. While going on the quest to stop the giants had been necessary to save the world, it had also put Annabeth several months behind in redesigning Mount Olympus. One would think that being thousands of years old the gods had some patience, but as Annabeth was quickly finding out they had less patience than most three year-olds. Don't get her wrong, Annabeth loved redesigning Mount Olympus. It was a huge honour, and the idea that her designs were in a place like Mount Olympus….. the idea of it still amazed Annabeth. But having to design buildings fit for gods in a limited amount of time added a huge amount of stress to her already stressful demigod life.

Caught up in her thoughts Annabeth noticed she's already walked straight past her locker. She turned around and went back to her locker where she found her mortal friends waiting for her.

"Hey guys."

One of the friends, Stacy, looked at her suspiciously. "Are you ok? You seem kinda out of it today."

"Yeah I'm fine," Annabeth reassured her, "just kinda tired from all the homework we have."

Her other friend, Julia, cut in. "You almost always have your homework done before the end of class."

 _Not today_ , thought Annabeth. Instead she replied with "They're projects. You know the ones due by the end of the month? I decided I'd finish them early." It wasn't fully a lie. They did have projects due by the end of the month, but Annabeth had already finished them last weekend before Percy left. It was just regular homework that was killing her right now. Stacy and Julia didn't have to know that though.

"You're sure you're not stressed because Percy's gone?" Stacy asked.

"No, of course not. I'm an independent person, I don't need him around constantly." Annabeth protested. That was a blatant lie this time. Yes, she was stressed because Percy was gone, but she couldn't admit that.

Stacy didn't look like she believed Annabeth, but she knew enough to back down. "If you say so. Julia and I are going for some ice cream if you want to come."

Annabeth shook her head. "Sorry I can't. I would any other day, but I've got to work on those projects."

Paul drove Annabeth back to the apartment like he did most other days. The conversation was slightly awkward without Percy, but it wasn't too bad. Annabeth had come to know and like Paul when she would visit his and Sally's apartment constantly when Percy was missing. When they arrived at the apartment Annabeth thanked Paul, said hi to Sally and walked into the room she was staying in. Time to get to work.

* * *

Percy was coming home today. Sally was really excited, probably more so than Annabeth. In her defence Annabeth was really sleep deprived at this point. Sally had baked dozens of blue cookies for Percy, cleaned his room for him and even made a banner that read 'Congratulations on your meet Percy! Welcome home!' Percy had called them last night telling them that he had won first place in all his races and his team had placed third overall. Annabeth was ridiculously proud of her Seaweedbrain. He had seemed really happy to be coming home though. He had told Annabeth that once he was done catching up with his parents that he wanted to take her out for a date because he'd missed her so to be ready. There was still 4 hours until Percy was supposed to get home though, so Annabeth was going to work on one of the designs for Mount Olympus before getting ready. She sat down at her desk and looked at all the papers spread out every where. Percy had been right, her work space did get really messy when she was working on a project. She took out one of her blue prints, a temple for Hermes. Perfect, it was almost done so she should be able to finish it before Percy got home.

* * *

"Annabeth."

The person in question groaned. Someone was lightly shaking her awake. Couldn't a person get some sleep around here?

"Annabeth."

Annabeth opened her eyes. She'd fallen asleep at her desk. Shit! She was supposed to be getting ready for her date with Percy. Speaking of Percy….. he was the one trying to wake her up. Annabeth rubbed her eyes and turned to look at him. "Oh my gods Percy, I'm so sorry. I meant to get ready, I swear! But I was working on a project and I just…."

"Fell asleep." Percy supplied.

"Yeah. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean-"

Percy just laughed and cut her off with a kiss. "It's ok Annabeth, I just missed you." He kissed her again and studied her face a little more closely. "Are you ok? You look really tired."

Annabeth was about to deny being tired like she had with her friends, but she stopped herself. She remembered something that Piper had told her when Percy was missing, that it was ok to tell people how she really felt, to show some vulnerability. Otherwise the feelings would just grow inside her until they were really dangerous for Annabeth's mental health. Annabeth hadn't fully taken up Piper's advice of course, but this was _Percy._ Annabeth trusted him more than anyone else. If she couldn't even be honest with Percy Annabeth had some problems.

"You're right I'm exhausted. I didn't sleep well when you were away, the nightmares got a lot worse." Annabeth made a mental note to listen to Piper's advice more often. She hadn't even said all of it but it felt so much better for those thoughts to be out in the open.

Percy looked concerned. It reminded Annabeth of something that she had told Percy before: 'You're cute when you're worried. Your eye brows get all scrunched together.' She hadn't been wrong then and she certainly wasn't now. He exhaled. "Annabeth, why didn't you tell me? Even if I couldn't come home early I still could have tried to call you more often and made sure you were okay. I'm sorry, I-"

"This is why" Annabeth interjected. "I didn't want you to worry about me. I should be able to solve my own problems. And you had a swim meet to focus on. I didn't want to distract you from that, I know how important it was to you."

Gripping her shoulders Percy looked Annabeth right in the eyes. "You are more important to me than any swim meet Annabeth. Or anything else for that matter. And I don't want to hear this 'solve your own problems' crap again. You have friends to help you Annabeth, they can't do that if you don't tell us what's wrong."

Percy seemed angry about this. And he was right, Annabeth realised. She was being stubborn and stupid, which was pretty embarrassing for a daughter of Athena. "I know, I shouldn't be like this. It's ridiculous, everyone needs help from time to time, but I can't get over myself to ask for help. It's the hubris and I hate it, but I don't like admitting that I'm not always capable and I'm not as strong as everyone expects me to be and I…" Annabeth was rambling at this point. It had taken a lot out of her to be even talking about this and she was fairly upset.

"Hey hey. Look at me." Percy took Annabeth into a comforting hug. "No one's perfect, but you're about as close as they get. So if you need some help or comfort from time to time, that is nothing for you to be ashamed about, you hear me? I love you Annabeth Chase, and I will always be here for you."

"Thanks Percy. I'm sorry. You had something all planned out for when you got here and I ruined it."

Percy smiled. "Don't even worry about it. I just wanted to see you. Doesn't matter to me where we are."

And that was when Annabeth knew that while she would always be a guarded person to most people, she did feel so much better after talking to Percy. It was ok to open up to your loved ones. They cared for you and weren't going to judge you; they just wanted to help and support you. And Annabeth loved Percy for being the one who was able to finally teach her that.

* * *

Annabeth Chase was 17 years old. She was still a leader at camp, a role model, someone people looks to for answers. The perfect daughter of Athena, she was strong, brave, intelligent, and fearless (with the exception of spiders). At least that's what the camp thought. Annabeth knew that last sentence was not true, and maybe she wanted to let the camp keep believing that. But Annabeth knew that if she let her closest friends and family see the part of her that wasn't always perfect, strong and confident it wouldn't make her any less of those characteristics. In fact it made her stronger and more able to deal with her struggles. She didn't have to put on a show for everyone all the time, and if she had a breakdown there were people who would help her through it. With the wars over there wasn't nearly the same amount of pressure on Annabeth to be that strong leader type. Maybe there was never that expectation put on her by others ever, and she had projected it onto herself. It didn't matter, she would always try to play that role for others when she thought they needed it. But for now Annabeth could relax a little, and just be herself. There would always be a little bit of guarding her true feelings around most people, but she could talk about them with Percy and Piper, and probably others as well. It was still a little uncomfortable for Annabeth to be talking about these problems head on, she was so used to burying them and pretending they didn't exist. But after she would discuss them with someone she trusted Annabeth always felt so much better, happier. There was a huge burden being lifted off her shoulders and she made progress with her feelings slowly but gradually. Talking about her feelings and problems was one of the hardest decisions Annabeth had ever made, but in the end opening up to others was one of the best decisions she had ever made. Other than dating Percy of course.

 **A/N: And that's a wrap! Thanks for reading, I know I had a great time writing this. I'm pretty proud of completing my first story. This is the last chapter I had planned but I am open to writing more chapters, possibly from other characters points of views if I get requests for that. Keep in mind that while the story was just that, a story, the message is real. If you ever have any important issues that you don't want to share, please do tell someone! Mental health is important and there are people out there who care for you and want to help you.**

 **Again thanks for reading! See you all later with my next story (which for all we know could be another half a year later),**

 **BlankPage-CleanSlate :)**


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